Forever More, Chapter 4

"Bella, wake up." I jerk awake and sit up in bed. Draco turns the bedside lamp on and looks at me with sleepy eyes. It's been almost 3 weeks since the first time I had that dream and I've had it every night since. If that wasn't annoying enough, it's always at the same time. And it always effects me like the first time I had it. I look over at Draco and smile apologetically.

"I'm sorry." He shakes his head and yawns.

"Still the same one?" I nod. "You still don't remember anything?" I shake my head. I feel horrible for lying to him. But how embarrassing is it that I'm dreaming about my teenage daughter and her boyfriend, even if it's not me in the dream. I still feel everything.

"You go back to sleep. I'm gonna go down for a drink." He nods and lays back down, falling asleep as soon as he hits the pillow. Poor guy is getting almost as little sleep as I am. I get out of bed and head down to the kitchen, pouring myself a cold glass of water. As I'm taking a sip I happen to look at the fridge where Keera has a countdown to Christmas on it. The sudden realization almost makes me drop the glass.

The whole time I've been having this dream I've always wondered why it takes place in Cheyenne's room. But looking at the countdown I suddenly get why. Cheyenne's coming home for the Christmas holidays. She'll be here for almost two weeks. It's December 10th, which means only little more than a week before she gets here. And if what Alexander says in the dream is true, only a week after that before he sneaks into her room.

I set the glass on the counter before I can drop it. Which also means at least two more weeks of this dream. I groan and cover my face in my hands. I'm not sure I can take two more weeks of this. Draco certainly can't. I haven't been able to touch him, afraid that anything I feel for him right now is purely the after effects from the dream. I'm sure he's beginning to wonder what's going on with me. I just hope he doesn't think I'm cheating on him.

"Bella? Are you still down here?" I look up as Draco enters the kitchen.

"What are you doing? You have to work in the morning." He smiles sleepily and leans against the opposite side of the counter. He doesn't hug me anymore. He's afraid of scaring me off. Secretly I'm thankful that he doesn't try to, but it hurts for some reason that I can't explain.

"S'okay. You coming back to bed?" I nod and then take another long sip from my recently forgotten glass of water.

"Yeah, I'll be up in a minute." He turns to leave but then stops, turning back to face me. The look on his face surprises me.

"Okay look, I've tried to give you space, cause it's obvious you need it. But I'm not sure I can take much more of this, Bell. You won't kiss me, you won't hug me, hell, you won't even touch me anymore. I was gonna leave it alone until you figured whatever it is you need to figure out, but I'm done. What's going on?" I look up at Draco, feeling so many things at once.

"I know, you're right. I'm sorry. It's this dream." He crosses his arms.

"You told me you don't remember it."

"I know, I'm sorry for lying. I get embarrassed even thinking about it. It's hard to tell you."

"Try me." It hurts that he's being so mean to me, but I can't say I don't deserve it.

"Okay well this is gonna sound completely absurd, but for the past couple weeks, I've been dreaming that I'm Cheyenne." His eyes narrow.

"But what about Cheyenne makes you shy away from me whenever I come within 5 feet of you?" I feel my face get hot.

"That's the embarrassing part." I pause but Draco doesn't say anything. I take a deep breath and sigh. "In the dream I wake up in our bedroom and then walk to Cheyenne's room. When I open the door Alexander is waiting in there for her. He snuck out of his own house to ours to see her." I stop then, hoping that Draco can guess the rest of the dream. By the look on his face, he can and has.

"Bell. That's crazy."

"I know. Don't you think I know that? Before you came down I figured it out. It's gonna happen over Christmas holidays. That's the only time she'll be here for more than a week until next summer." I remember something about the dream I hadn't paid attention to before. When walking down the hallway I can see stockings, the ones that Draco and I tie to the banister for the kids.

"Are you seriously telling me that you're dreaming about having sex with Cheyenne's boyfriend?" I cringe at the tone in his voice.

"Not me. Cheyenne. I'm her in the dream." He shakes his head. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I don't know, honestly. That's just crazy. There's got to be more you're not telling me." I shake my head sadly.

"That's it." Draco sighs.

"I think I'm gonna sleep down here tonight." I feel as if he just took my heart out of my chest and stamped all over it with his foot. I have to keep myself from crying. "I'll see you tomorrow after work." I nod slowly and watch him walk in the direction of the guest room. Only when I'm sure that he's shut the door do I let myself cry. Draco and I rarely fight and this is just crushing me.

I wander upstairs without any real memory of how I got up here and get back into bed. It feels cold and empty without Draco in it so I get back out and walk down the hall to Keera's room. I open the door slowly and walk over to her bed. I move the blankets and curse mentally as she sits up, rubbing her eyes. "Mommy?"

"Shh, it's okay. I just had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you tonight?" She nods and scoots over so I have more room. I lay down beside her and take her in my arms, hugging her to me. She falls back to sleep almost right away, but it takes me much longer. It feels like my chest is broken and I can't breathe right. I finally fall asleep just as the sun is coming up.